Aircraft History
Built by General Motors, Eastern Aircraft
Division. Delivered to the United States Navy (USN) as TBM-1C Avenger bureau number 16956. Assigned to USS Enterprise to squadron VT-20. No known nickname, nose art or squadron number.

WreckageThe Avenger's engine landed atop a hilltop ridge, later dubbed "Pope’s Ridge / Walt's Ridge / Hill 100". Other wreckage is scattered over a mile spanning Pope's Ridge and the Horseshoe. After the battle, this crash site was visited by American forces and human remains were recovered, thought to belong to Stuart.

This crash site was generally known since the early 1990s, but had not been precisely identified. During March 5-6, 2003, the wreckage was revisited by Pat Scannon and Daniel O'Brien and others from Bent Prop. They located a data plate confirming it was a TBF Avenger and the US Navy Bureau Number '16956' painted on the external skin. Also a machine gun and other parts of the Avenger and afterwards reported their findings to Joint
POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC).

During the Spring of 2005, this site was re-investigated by JPAC, but failed to recover any additional remains, although some Japanese and Palau remains were found in the same area. Again in 2005, the wreckage was again visited by Bent Prop.

MemorialsBaxter and Miller were were officially declared dead September 14, 1945. Both are memorialized on the tablets of the missing at Manila American Cemetery.

Remains returned to Stuart's FamilyThe remains believed to be Stuart were temporary
buried at the USAAF Cemetery, Manila #2. In 1948, the US Navy returned remains to Stuart's mother but she refused to believe they were her son. Accepting them as someone's son, the remains were interned at the Stuart family's mausoleum in San Joaquin, California.

After the 2005 visit to the crash site by JPAC, Stuart's sister Mary Ellen Stuart-Roberts had the remains exhumed and paid $11,000 for private DNA testing. The results confirmed that the remains could not be those of Stuart and informed JPAC.

In April 2008 the unidentified remains buried as Stuart were accepted by the U.S. Navy and flown from Travis AFB to Hickam AFB and delivered to JPAC. During October 2009, these remains were identified with mDNA testing as those of Arthur C. Miller.

Identification of MillerDuring October 2009, JPAC confirmed remains recovered were identified as Arthur Miller. On November 7, 2009 Miller was buried alongside his mother at Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery in Poughkeepsie, NY at Section 25.